The crowds came in droves to cheer on their favorites at the Cosequin Stuart Horse Trials last weekend in Victor, New York - with many getting the best seats in the house on the Patron Tent Hillside, which overlooked a generous portion of the hilly green course. Sixteen horse and rider combinations galloped around the Intermediate course - check out the photos below, and the results here.
Photos by Emily Daily
Megan Correia-Bittner and Anyway leap over the skinny in fine form. They recently finished 4th in the Open Intermediate at Groton House II back in June.Owned by Megan, Anyway's a 10yo Oldenburg, who hails from GermanyBoyd Martin on the first of his four horses in the OI division - August Vettorino's Clifton Imperial. I believe this was the gelding's first 2*, and Boyd gave him a valiant ride.Cresting the hill towards the big bank.Guess who? It's none other than hometown favorite Darren Chiacchia! He and Better I Do It (his Pan Am partner) looked to be in fine form.The tall gelding was jumping well, but alas, had one 'stinker moment' at the corner... but jumped it fine the 2nd time, and finished the course with both boys looking fit and full of running. Hugo Boss (should be HUGE Boss, this guy is tall) was jumping really well for Matt Flynn, but sadly they were eliminated for missing a fence... better luck next time!Here's Boyd Martin & Nina Gardner's Loose n Cool galloping towards the final combination...The spritely redhead nipped neatly down the steps, and Boyd guided him easily over the skinny brush - and on to the win!This is such a neat little horse - here's Misty Vale Bacardi, a Morgan! How cool is that? He's only 15.1 and galloped easily around this course, adding only time faults to their score. Rider/owner Emily Daigneault must have been pleased!This little guy has springs in his legs... *boing*!Nanki Doubleday's Dutch WB gelding Nevada Bay jumped beautifully for Will ColemanAnd looked very eager to be out and about! (Check out that stride...)Ride #3 in the OI for Boyd - this time aboard Densev Juvonen's Remington XXV - they had a great round, adding only time faults to jump from 8th to 3rd.Here's another of my favorites! Ringmoylan, an ISH owned and ridden by Jane Jennings. I thought this guy was cute as a button (and talented!) when I saw him at Jersey Fresh this year.And his steady performance with Jane this weekend just made me covet him even more. She moved up to 2nd after this round!Simone Kann & her TB gelding Balmoral Tim Tramm popping down over the House on the Hill.Take the Chance & Caitlin Wallace - CUTE horse, but I don't know much about him except he's a TB-cross (but crossed with what? A marshmallow? Lollipop? Rainbow? Something cute...)Ah, I had to save the best for last. Windfall is one of my all-time faves (I know, I say that often), and I was so excited to see him and Darren back competing again this weekend. They both looked very strong and happy to be back! I got the chance to chat with Darren a bit this weekend and he was thrilled to be competing in front of his family, friends, and 'hometown crowd'... (I smell a good story brewing...!)And I have to say, I think they had one of the best rides of the day - especially through this sometimes-tricky final combination. It had two drop banks and a tight turn to a skinny - and they rode it like an equitation round. You should have heard the cheers that erupted (since incidentally, this was right in front of the Patron's Tent.). Welcome back Darren & Windfall :)
Ask any U.S. eventing fan what the biggest day in the sport all year is, and they will most definitely respond with, "cross-country day at Kentucky." Saturday is by far the busiest event, normally averaging around 40,000 people at the Kentucky Horse Park, which is nearly 50% of the event's total ...
New Zealand’s Monica Spencer found herself in a familiar position at the end of the second day of dressage at the Defender Kentucky Three-Day Event today—in first after dressage in the five-star aboard her longtime partner Artist.
Try as they might, not a single horse and rider pair could top overnight leaders Tamie Smith and Danito’s dressage score of 27.0 in the Cosequin Lexington CCI4*-S at the Defender Kentucky Three-Day Event, however there were two new pairs who joined them on the leaderboard following the second day...
